The first of the United Rugby Championship quarter finals comes from Limerick on Friday night when defending champions Munster are very short price favourites for their clash with the Ospreys.
Munster v Ospreys, Friday 7th June, Limerick, KO 20:35 (South African time)
Referee: Hollie Davidson (Scotland)
Assistant referees: Andrea Piardi (Italy) and Gianluca Gnecchi (Italy)
TMO: Andrew McMenemy (Scotland)
Weather Forecast: - Limerick
Munster:
Munster topped the log at the end of the regular season with a record of 13 wins, 1 draw and 4 defeats. Their tally of 68 log points was 2 better than the Bulls and 3 clear of Leinster and Glasgow who will also be hosting home quarter finals.
Munster beat the Ospreys 27-17 in Swansea in Round 12, they won all their matches against Welsh opposition whilst all 4 of their defeats came in Irish derby matches, at Ulster, home and away to Leinster and at Connacht.
Last season Munster had to travel through the play offs, winning in Glasgow, at Leinster and then they beat the Stormers in the final in Cape Town.
In the outright betting Munster are now 44/10 second favourites to win the tournament with BoyleSports
Ospreys:
The Ospreys squeezed into the play offs at the expense of the Lions with a 33-29 win away to Cardiff in the final round of matches. They finished eighth with 10 wins and 8 defeats against their name, their total of 50 log points was the same number as the Lions. Although they had a vastly inferior points difference their number of wins was greater than the South African side and they live to fight another day.
Against Irish opposition this season the Ospreys lost at Connacht (34-26), they beat Ulster (19-17) in Swansea, lost at home to Munster (27-17) and crashed to a 61-14 defeat at Leinster.
In the outright betting the Ospreys are 145/1 long shots to win the tournament with BoyleSports
Team News
Munster: 15 Simon Zebo, 14 Calvin Nash, 13 Antoine Frisch, 12 Seán O’Brien, 11 Shane Daly, 10 Jack Crowley, 9 Craig Casey, 8 Gavin Coombes, 7 John Hodnett, 6 Peter O’Mahony, 5 Tadhg Beirne (c), 4 RG Snyman, 3 Stephen Archer, 2 Niall Scannell, 1 Jeremy Loughman
Replacements: 16 Diarmuid Barron, 17 John Ryan, 18 Oli Jager, 19 Jack O’Donoghue, 20 Alex Kendellen, 21 Conor Murray, 22 Tony Butler, 23 Mike Haley
Ospreys: 15 Max Nagy, 14 Luke Morgan, 13 Owen Watkin, 12 Keiran Williams, 11 Keelan Giles, 10 Owen Williams, 9 Reuben Morgan-Williams, 8 Morgan Morris, 7 Justin Tipuric (c), 6 Jac Morgan, 5 Huw Sutton, 4 James Ratti, 3 Tom Botha, 2 Dewi Lake, 1 Nicky Smith
Replacements: 16 Sam Parry, 17 Gareth Thomas, 18 Rhys Henry, 19 Victor Sekekete, 20 Morgan Morse, 21 Luke Davies, 22 Luke Scully, 23 Harri Houston
The Betting,
Munster -14.5 points at 9/10
Ospreys +15.5 points at 9/10
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
Betting Angle
Posted 06 June, 20h05
This game is exactly where I handicapped it at Munster -15.5 and I don’t see value either side of the line.
The points line is 54.5 and I am leaning unders there. Munster won the tournament last year (all 3 playoffs on the road) and the points in each game starting with the quarters was 19 (away to Glasgow), 31 (away to Leinster) and 33 away to the Stormers.
I do give them a chance of running away with this though and will rather focus on Ospreys points and tries. You can go u19.5 on points but I prefer under 2.5 tries as being a playoff they will likely take their 3’s.
BET: 4 units Ospreys under 2.5 tries at 8/10 at Pokerbet*
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Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
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